BBTB2 Baby Buggy Challenge and Blog Hop

Welcome to the first BBTB2 Blog Hop of the 2012. If you've come from Julia's fabulous Blog, you're on the right track, but if you've happened here by accident, you might wish to go back to BBTB2 and start at the beginning so you don't miss a thing. I still can't believe January is almost gone already. My esteemed co-leader and all around great gal, Carole chose the baby carriage from New Arrival this week and although I do have the cart, I decided to play with another one I've only used once so far, which is Car Decals. I came across the "Oh Baby" sentiment while browsing MyCutSearch.com, an invaluable tool when trying to find cut options for your Cricut. The shadows of both cuts were welded in DS and then to a long rectangle from George to make my usual shaped front card (that I failed to get a picture of because I was in such a hurry yesterday to hit the shopping trail...oops!) I sort of squished the "Oh Baby" part and hid the contours of the center of the letters with DS in order to hide the sentiment inside.

Other than the shadow, there are not a lot of layering options on Car Decals so I cut it several times and hand cut portions of the striped body of the buggy out so I could pop it and added little button both on top and behind the wheels. Trimmed her little bow as well and added a pearl and some emerald eyes. (Love her little curl.)

As I said, there wasn't a whole lot of layering options, but I did my best. And I found a cute little "binky" button in my drawer and tied it to the heart. Cute, eh?

Now on to dear Carole's Blog to view her frothy confection (It is really yummy!) but before you go, please leave a comment for a chance to win this Cuttlebug Love Language Card Making Combo, just in time for Valentine's Day. I'll draw the winner on Friday February 3rd so you all come back now, ya hear?

Shot Through the... Heart?

Ah yes, it's another Macabre Monday at HDH and this week our challenge is Shot Through the Heart. VD is only a couple of weeks away so... You know the normal deets, but you must also include a heart AND at least one hole. OK, I don't always mean to be tongue in cheek but I couldn't help it with these fun Octopode images. I've chosen the dude and heart from Zombie Love and Cupid who I can't seem to find but I'm sure he's hiding somewhere so give Lily a shout if you want him (her?). (Sorry, had a marathon shopping day with my BFF and her 15 year old daughter and I'm barely holding on here. LOL) Must say though, a good time was had by all although my pocketbook is groaning.

The cool DP is from last year's DCWV Madly in Love stack. The images are all colored with Copics and I made an arrow like Cupid's by cutting off the end of a heart stick pin, gluing it to a toothpick and adding a feather. Used my craft knife to cut the hole where his eyeball fell out et viola! Requirements covered.

I popped Zombie Dude with his heart front and center and added computer generated sentiments. I have to say I kinda love it. As usual, incredible stuff by the rest of the Minions so be sure to have a look HERE. We've been loving the participation so please keep it up. We love seeing your dark side!

Wicked Wednesday and The Saturated Canary

WooHoo! Normally I spend my Sundays scratching my head over Monday's BBTB2 DT projecct but I managed to finish it yesterday because today I'm spending the day with my BFF and her 15 year old daughter shopping. Did, however manage to slip in a little ATC for the current Wicked Wednesday Challenge. (Love that they're so tiny you can do one quick as a wink, well, comparatively for me anyway AND the fact that I won a TOP 3 badge for last week that somehow has disappeared somewhere in the depths of my computer at the mo, but I WILL find it.) The Challenge is Nursery Rhymes/Fairy Tales and is sponsored by The Saturated Canary. Krista's digis make me SWOON so I just HAD to participate with one of hers. Now I know the theme doesn't jump right out at ya, but this is Sleepy Beauty. Besides the fact that she IS a Fairy Tale character, I love how she looks like she can't wait to fall asleep and dream of her Prince. My Sweet Prince tells me "Sweet Dreams" every night. MMMMmm... Now I had plans to do a major die cut and punch dealie for The Saturated Canary Challenge t00, but since time is of the essence, I had to satisfy the requirement with a little MS heart punch and hooking this up there too. OK? Hope so. AND if you love thse images as much as I do, hop on over to Krista's Blog HERE and check out the Freebie and a coupon code you won't want to miss. Did a little pre shopping, shopping this AM to the tune of 13 new images. Eiyiyi! But I just couldn't resist, and neither should YOU! Now off to do a quicky workout on the elliptical. Ta!

Dilly Beans "Freaked" Challenge

We have a fun challenge at Dilly Beans this week. Our challenge is "Freaked" and it's certainly open to creative interpretation. I chose the happy little Ghoul for my freak. The starbursts behind him are cut with my Nesties Pinking Circles and I cut a little clear stamp apart to add "happy" in the colors of the DP. The sentiment is from "Kids Quotes" by Inkadinkadoo cut with Nesties Deckle Rectangles.

I printed him twice, colored with Copics and fussy cut so I could add some dimension. Couldn't resist adding some sparkle via stickles to his thousand watt smile. Had a dental cleaning this week so I'm walking around just like this showing off the pearly whites myself. LOL (And of course, thinking of my Sweetie.) My DT sisters have come up with really fun variations on the theme so be sure to visit the Dilly Beans Challenge Blog and get your "freak" on! I'm also adding this to the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge.

BBTB2 Layered Flowers Challenge

WooHoo! I wasn't sure I was gonna make this one because yesterday I was quite under the weather, but this morning I was able to pull myself together and finish her up. Yea, me! I hate to let the team down or disappoint you all (or myself, for that matter). Our sweet and fabulously talented DT sister Jeri chose layered flowers this week for our BBTB2 challenge. She suggested the Bloom cart (which I can't believe I don't have) but as always, you may play along with any cartridge as long as it's a new creation, follow the challenge and link it up to BBTB2. I don't have to remind you to use your Cricut, do I? LOL In the spirit of trying to actually use some of the bazillion carts I've accumulated I chose Sophie for my flower cuts, along with "Just Because" Cards for the words and Don Juan for the "&".

It's all welded in DS to a base from George. Yup, it's a shaped front card again. I apologize for the lack of creativity in the color scheme, but I used papers that were still laying around from previous projects because my brain wasn't up to making other choices.

It actually ended up with more dimension than I planned because the largest flower had plenty more room for petals without compromising the original design so layer I did. Each is embossed with Swiss dots and the cool yellow stamens are from a McGill punch. LOVE it! And wait 'til you see the gorgeous flowers from my teammates this week. Wowsers! If that isn't inspiration, I don't know what is. Hope you join us at BBTB2 and BTW, there's still a week left for the Numbers challenge too. We sure love it when you play along.

Macabre Monday Get Lost Challenge

It's time for another Macabre Monday challenge and this week it's "Get Lost". Create a dark, Gothic or Halloween project which includes a map. HA! Oh yeah, lost we were last weekend on our whirlwind FL visit last weekend and I must say we find the whole travel experience like a trip straight to...well, read my map. Being there is not the problem, but GETTING there (and back) generally requires a week's recovery (or more if you pick up the nasty bugs you're exposed to on your sardine packed flights with various germ bags fore and aft which we, of course, DID). The lovely pink and purple map to HELL I found on David Auerbach's website. My happy little Devil is from Dilly Beans and the sentiment is computer generated.

I couldn't resist finishing the inside of this one. This Devil Girl charmer from The Octopode Factory is a dead ringer for one of our flight attendants...seriously. You'd think she could spare an extra bag of peanuts on a 5 1/2 hour flight but nooo.... I've used masks from Tim Holtz and Distress Inks to add the compass pointing South. So much for comic relief. My Minion sisters were a bit more serious than I, so be sure to check out their awesome work HERE and don't forget to stop in Wednesday for Creepy Glo's fab offering. Forgive me if I'm late with my BBTB2 project this week as I'm really feeling under the weather but I'll get it up as soon as I'm able.

Wicked Wednesday Dress/Dress Forms Challenge

It's been while since I've been able to play along with challenges other than my DT gigs, but today I couldn't help myself. (Not that I shouldn't be doing something else, right now, but when the mojo flows... and besides, ATC's are so little and cute and...I've been dying to use this image...and...ok, I'll cut to the chase although I'm feeling chatty which I really haven't been for awhile, much to the relief of many of you, I'm sure.) The challenge is Dress/Dress Forms at the Wicked Wednesday ATC Challenge Blog and the adorable image I've used is from A Day for Daisies called Lily Paper Piercing (Piecing?)Doll. She's colored with Copics with red hair because this is me standing in my knickers shopping my closet. Surely I'm not the only one who does that, am I? The good news is, after my recent success with the whole eating healthy and getting back to exercise mode I've got LOTS more options. Instead of having to choose between the few items that didn't totally cut off my circulation, I'm happy to say pretty much everything fits and doesn't even look half bad (if I do say so myself). Toot toot! So glad I started THAT resolution WELL before the end of last year. As far as the organizing my Craft Room resolution, not so much. I can say I was able to use stuff that was still on my table from the last 50 or so projects like the background DP (make that cardboard but the scale was right) that was part of packaging of stuff I'd rejected for??? and the nifty hanger brads that were too small for what I initially dug them out for. Baby steps... I'm also entering this in the Simon Says Stamp and Show "Anything but a Card" challenge.

Dilly Beans Has the Blues

TGIF!!! It means a great new challenge at the Dilly Beans Designers and Challenge Blog. This week we all have the blues (well, maybe in my case the teals, LOL) Couldn't help myself. This Tim Holtz DP called to me and so did this sweet #188 Flower Girl. I printed her twice and colored her up with Copics.

Here's a close up of the sentiment done with Alpha Beads for the flower centers. Can't get enough of those things. She's fussy cut and glued to the darker mat and fussy cut again to make her stand out more.

The image is popped as well as every other flower to give this simple card some dimension. I love that it can be used for many occasions. My DT sisters have all sorts of inspiration for you so go have a look HERE and show them some love. And speaking of love, we sure love it when you play along so come on and show us your blue creations. The image doesn't have to be a Dilly Beans one, but it's so exciting to see what you do with Megan's adorable digis. And it just so happens that my dear friend Stephanie used a Dilly Beans Snowman for this week's Whimsical Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge and I will be linking up this card there as well.

BBTB2 Numbers Challenge

Happy Monday! This week at BBTB2 it was MY turn to host the challenge and I chose "Numbers" to celebrate my MIL's 90th birthday. Sorry for the late post here. We spent the weekend in FL with the rest of the Mundinger siblings to honor this incredible woman, but the trip was a whirlwind with what seemed to be more travel time than family time, so we'll be recovering all week, I expect. I designed a Birthday cake for Mom using the Wedding cartridge. Her favorite color is blue so that was an obvious choice. She loves flowers so I decorated the cake with cuts from Botanicals and added numbers from Storybook.

After doing so, I thought perhaps this looked a bit more like a wedding or anniversary cake so I added a little "Happy Birthday" using peelies to the middle layer. For texture I used the Tim Holtz Swirls folder (slightly more delicate than D'Vine Swirls) and Swiss Dots for the numbers. Instead of using the shadow of the Botanicals cut (which didn't allow for the cake layers to show through as well), I chose to use the regular version and cut it twice in white as well, once to use slightly offset, and once to fussy cut the center flower for layering. The white butterflies are an MS punch.

The beading between the layers sort of hides the fact that each layer is popped for dimension, but you get the idea. I always enjoy making cards and projects for my MIL because she saves and displays my creations in both of her homes year round (she lives in Michigan during the summer) which I really appreciate. Be sure to visit BBTB2 to take a look at the incredible work from my DT sisters and I can't wait to see how you use numbers (from any cart, in any way) when you join us.

Macabre Monday Chic Freaks

Before we get too far here, I have to tell you I'm in FL working on an unfamiliar computer that doesn't want to let me link in my post. I will correct this problem when I get home later on Monday, but for now, it is what it is. (All fixed so be sure to click the links) So sorry I missed last week's Macabre Monday challenge. I must say the rest of the DT outdid themselves, but I'm up and running with this week's Chic Freaks Challenge sponsored by one of my FAVE rubber stamp companies, Stampotique. Stampotique has some of the most talented designers in the business and my personal faves are the creepy quirky images by Daniel Torrente and Jill Penney. This happy dude is a combination of Mervyn's face on Dweeze's body.

I've stamped him on purple card stock and left him uncolored. I made my own DP using Tim Holtz's method of swiping Distress Ink (in Dusty Concord, Milled Lavender, and Black Soot) on a craft sheet, spritzing it and wiping my paper in the concoction. Once dry, I stamped 3 Smiles over and over for the pattern. (LOVE it!)

I fussy cut Mervyn, added a black border mat and popped him to make him stand out against the smily faces. The sentiment is computer generated, inked and matted as well. Chic? Well...but he sure is freaky, don'tcha think? The Minions really enjoyed working with these fab stamps from Stampotique so be sure and check out their fabulous inspiration. I know you'll want to join in this week as well for a chance to win a fab prize from Stampotique (BTW, the stamps are not all creepy, LOL), so check out Haunted Design House and play along.

Dilly Beans Frosty Challenge

Happy Friday everyone! Time for another fun challenge from Dilly Beans. We're still rockin' the winter scene at the Dilly Beans Challenge blog with this week's theme being "Frosty". Hey, no prob, but kinda funny since as you're reading this I'm on a plane bound for sunny Florida to celebrate my MIL's 90th birthday. (More on that Monday) Well, I can't think of Frosty without thinking snowman and remembering the words to the song, I chose the adorable #329 Top Hat Snowman.

I've done a bit of manipulation with his hat in my Printmaster Platinum program in order to extend the hat beyond the border because of the surprise sentiment he's hiding under there.

Remember the song?

I popped the matted image as well as the snowflake with the hat attached to allow freedom of movement. The snowflakes are Cricut shadow cuts along with Cuttlebug and Spellbinders flakes. I've used an MS icicle border punch and liberal use of my Stickles and embossed the DCWV snowflake DP with the Cuttlebug snowflake folder. Then I spelled out Frosty in Alpha Beads and there ya go. My DT sisters have provided just tons of inspiration so please visit the Challenge Blog and leave them some love. In addition, Megan has added some great new things to the Dilly Beans Shop. Check out the new Collage Sheets and stay tuned for Paper Piecing Patterns (say THAT 3 times fast!) WooHoo!

BBTB2 WIMG Caterpillar Challenge

Yea, it's Monday and time for another challenge at BBTB2. My dear friend and co-leader Carole has chosen the adorable caterpillar from Walk in my Garden for our challenge this week but as you know, you may join our challenge using any similar cut as long as it's a new project. This is one of the first cartridges I ever purchased and it's still one of my faves. My hungry little guy is on a branch from Live Simply (which actually has a different worm on it which I hid with the shadow of the other caterpillar in Design Studio). I've added another flower and leaf to make it easier to weld the sentiment from another oldie cart, Paper Pups.

The whole shebang is welded to a rectangle from George to make a shaped front card. the fun dotty paper peeking through is from BoBunny. I've done a bit of embossing for interest (Tiny Mosaic on the leaves and Swiss Dots on the flowers) and some button centers with adhesive beads filling the holes instead of thread.

Not so much dimension this week, guys. To be honest, I was nursing the mother of all hangovers (both wine AND food) yesterday from our belated Christmas dinner I prepared for our BFF's who were away for the holidays (No, I'm always a last minute kinda gal. Yes, it's one of my resolutions, but don't hold your breath.) so this is what you get. LOL Although I'm really happy with the results of the resolution I actually started in October to eat healthier, exercise more and stop thinking of wine as a separate food group, when you do fall off the wagon, you hit HARD!

My little guy is happily munching on one of the delectable flowers which leads me to the inside sentiment. It actually was inspired by one of my favorite cards by Kris Lancaster, posted on the Cricut Message Board in 2008 or 2009. Kris hasn't been crafting much these days, and I sure miss her. She always cracked me up!

The open design of the shaped front didn't leave much room for a sentiment without it showing through so I used my Dymo label maker and voila! My DT sisters have a ton of inspiration for you this week so be sure and stop by BBTB2 and check it out. And remember, the challenges run for 2 weeks so you still have time for the Ice Skate challenge as well. See ya there.

The Altered Alice Week 2

"At the two-yard peg she faced round, and said, 'A pawn goes two squares in its first move, you know.
So you'll go VERY quickly through the Third Square--by railway, I should think--and you'll find
yourself in the Fourth Square in no time. Well, THAT square belongs to Tweedledum and
Tweedledee--the Fifth is mostly water--the Sixth belongs to Humpty Dumpty--But you make no remark?'
'I--I didn't know I had to make one--just then,' Alice faltered out."
-- Chapter 11, Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There

Happy New Year from all of us at The Altered Alice! When we think of Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, we always think stripes and plaids. Lewis Carroll does not mention the patterns they are wearing, but so many illustrations and movies have clad them in mismatched stripes and patterns. Your challenge this month is to use STRIPES. Our stamps this month are from the fabulous artist's community website called CRESCENDOh, started by Jenny Doh, former managing editor of the famous Stampington Publication. The heart of the site is all the stories: stories of all sorts of artists and how art has changed their lives. The online shop sells all sorts of things, including CRESCENDOh clear stamps. This month the DT has the pleasure of using the charming Alice in Wonderland clear stamp set by the artist Danita. I chose to do a series of CAS cards to really showcase the whimsical designs.

Besides the stripes found on the images, my mats are embossed with stripes using either a Cuttlebug or Sizzix folder. The mats framing the images were cut with Nesties and I've only used the color of the mat to color each image, further strengthening the CAS design. (I know, who is this woman and what has she done with Donna? LOL But I couldn't help myself here. The stamps speak for themselves.)

Here's are closeups of each in my set. You can view the entire stamp set on The Altered Alice, as well as read more about the fabulous CRESCENDOh site.

Author Jenny Doh is donating a signed copy of her latest book, Art Saves, which is not only full of eye candy but is also full of the stories of how art changes lives. "Discover not only the HOW but also the WHY, through the stunning projects and unique stories of 20 exciting multi-media artists." Thanks so much to Jenny for contributing such a meaningful prize to start off 2012!

Be sure to stop by The Altered Alice each week to see more inspiration for our monthly challenge. Enter your project featuring stripes by Friday, Jan. 27. The winner will be announced the following Sunday. As always, entries that feature Wonderland will have two chances at the random drawing instead of one. You may enter as often as you like but each entry must be on a separate post. All posts must mention and link back to the challenge.

Dilly Beans Winter Wonderland

OH dear! I'm a whole day late in posting this week's Dilly Beans Winter Wonderland Challenge Card. And if you're here for the Dia de Reyes Blog Hop, please scroll down. (Even if you aren't, go take a look for a little chuckle, ok?) Seems like I've been behind all week. Sounds like most of the country is having unusual winter weather. Where's all the snow? Certainly not in the Sierras here. Bummer for skiers for sure. My sweet snowmen are plenty frosty and bringing food and shelter for the little birdies I've cut from the Holly Birdhouse Set.

Aren't they cuties? I've colored them with copics to match the pretty DP from the MME Wonderful Winter Stack and stickled them a bit for frosty goodness. I've added some additional snowflakes from JoLee's and my Tim Holtz On the Edge Snowflake border that I cut twice, staggered, glittered, and adorned with MORE snowflakes which qualifies this for this week's Whimsical Wednesdays "On the Edge" challenge. Well actually, maybe it doesn't BUT...

The glittery sticker border from Cloud 9 around the edge of my mat sure does so I guess I'm covered. LOL Added some corner beads with my Platinum Liquid Pearls with which I need to practice a bit more, but I do like the fact that those babies stay STUCK where you want 'em. That triple bow was done with my Bow(not so)Easy. Need a bit more practice with that, too. Now go have a look at beautiful inspiration from my DB DT sisters and come and play along.

Dia de Reyes Blog Hop

Welcome to the second annual Dia de Reyes Blog Hop. If you've come from Gaby's Blog, you're on the right track and you've learned something about this happy day as celebrated in Latin cultures and why this day is so very special to her. Last year my project reflected the more traditional and religious aspect (see it HERE) but I decided to be a bit more whimsical today. Forget Santa, Latin children anticipate this day with great excitement as it is the day they receive their gifts from Los Reyes Magos, as the Baby Jesus did. They put their shoes by the window or under their beds and wake up to find them filled with gifts. My camel is indeed bearing gifts and is also rockin' the shoe aspect here. LOL

I've welded some high heels from Forever Young to the camel from Animal Kingdom. The shadow base (at 7") was cut from chipboard with both sides covered in red. I cut the regular camel twice (well, actually 4 times since it can be viewed from either side) and trimmed the legs on one and popped it to give it added dimension. They were glued to a small box that can bear gifts. The saddle is cut with Nesties Labels Eleven and trimmed to fit with a rosette that says "Joy" from K&Co. And the shoes...did you notice the red soles? This is one stylin' camel.

And she obviously knows where to shop!

Looks like some little girl is going to be very VERY happy! Children who have been good all year (and big girls too) write letters to their favorite King hoping that their wishes will come true.

I've been a very good girl so... Gaspar Baby, hurry to my window tonight! Now off you go to Esther's Blog but don't forget to leave a comment before you go. And if you get lost, here's the complete line-up...Enjoy!

Gaby - http://www.gabycreates.com/
Donna - http://donnamundinger-popsicletoes.blogspot.com/
Esther - http://forthejoyofcreating.blogspot.com/
Martha C - http://dreamofcrafting.blogspot.com/
Martha G - http://pattisscrapingtime.blogspot.com/
Melin - http://papercraftingworld.blogspot.com/
Ruthie - http://septemberninth.blogspot.com/
Yolie - http://www.justyolie.com/

BBTB2 Winter Woodland Ice Skate

Again, Happy New Year to all! I'm very excited about 2012 because my dear DT sister Carole and I will be taking the reins over at BBTB2 since Heather will be on full time "grandma duty". Our first challenge of the year was chosen by our sweet and beautiful Krista who chose the ice skate from Winter Woodland. I have many fond skating memories. My Daddy was a fabulous skater (and ice dancer) and for 7 years we spent our Fall/Winter Saturday afternoons at the rink where I took figure skating. He even built me an outdoor rink in our back yard so I could practice. I almost did a layout for this challenge, but since I'm not a scrapper, I chose a different memory for my inspiration. (Oh oh, I think I just may be back to my chatty self, so grab cuppa. Have you missed me?)

I chose the skates from Celebrate With Flourish because they look just magical to me. Several years ago, DH and I took a trip to Lake Louise for New Year's and it was truly a winter wonderland. I grew up in the Chicago area so I was no stranger to snow but the pure pristine beauty was just breathtaking there. There was a huge outdoor rink with an ice castle in the center and I couldn't wait to get skates on. However, during the day it was filled with kids so we decided to go at night. Bbbbrrr.... and I do mean BBBBRRRR!!!!!! As a figure skater, we never wore heavy socks in our skates (just tights) and I'm pretty sure that's a part of the reason I developed Popsicle Toes. This made me a bit nervous because when the toes go into popsicle mode there is no warming them up and when the circulation returns, it's like a combination of pins and needles and walking on coals. I expressed my concern to the skate rental place and they turned my on to those fabulous chemical toe warmers fit in the skates and keep the toesies cozy for up to 5 hours. It was heaven! Toasty toes, who knew? Anyway, the castle was all lit up like a fairytale, the stars were out, the snow was falling and I felt like I could fly on that ice. I even saw a shooting star. (I like to think it was my Daddy) That magical night was the color inspiration for my card which seems a little dark now that I look at it in the pix, but it WAS dark and oh so beautiful.

The card is a shaped front and I ended up cutting the skates several times and trimming them to add the silver blades and layer them up properly. The gorgeous beaded snowflakes are JoLee's and the DP is from the DCWV Winter Magic stack (how apropo). My DT sisters have done a fabulous job with this challenge so be sure to stop by BBTB2 and take a look. Remember, you may use any skate from any cart to join in, as long as it's a new creation and you have two weeks to complete the challenge. And for those of you who have dreamed of joining our wonderful team, there will be a DT call shortly, so warm up that Cricky and stop back for details in a few. I'm also entering this in the Crimbo Crackers Snowflake Challenge and Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes.